I’m commonly told by many people, ” I don’t need a website, everything is on facebook now”, or “I get more business on my facebook page, no one goes to my website” and it is starting to become one of the biggest misconceptions out there. Let me tell you why:

 

  • You don’t own Social Media. When posting information under a public setting, you are opening the door for people to share your information. If you read the Facebook terms and conditions, whilst photos / content are on Facebook, you are giving them a licence to be able to use your work. There is nothing to stop Facebook tomorrow from shutting down business pages and losing all of your content.  Whereas all the content you post on your own equine business website, you own and and have control over. 

 

  • Social Media is designed to draw attention back to your equine business website. It’s simply another promotional tool. I get told “no one visits my website, but they visit my facebook page” Well of course this would be true if you aren’t promoting your website, or keeping your website content current. Social media is designed as a promotional tool to direct people back to your website. For example if you are an online business you should be using facebook advertising to direct people back to your website to purchase products. This is also where facebook pixels come in to help you track data. By directing people back to your website you can also gain valuable data from the customer to market back to them later.

 

  • Finding your business Online / SEO. The majority of people when looking for a product of service will do a google search. You can’t optimise a facebook page to rank on google, and you can’t similarly rank multiple pages / services using facebook. With an equine business website there are so many facets you can change to influence how your business will rank in a search, making it easier to find you.

 

  • Sale Conversions. A lot of sales are usually made on a whim, quickly and easily. If you are selling a product and share the link to your website where they can buy the product directly, you are more likely to win the sale, than if they had to privately message you and try to organise a product to be purchased.

 

  • Business Credibility. Your equine business website is where you show your professionalism and custom branding. With a website you have control over the image you portray, and it’s usually the first gateway into obtaining a potential client. You also have control over any negative feedback / reviews, whereas on social media its usually open slather.

 

  • Limited features. You are limited to the way facebook displays information, where as on a website, you can have as many pages and sections as you’d like and organise information how you see fit. A good example of this is the very popular Mattes Saddle Pad Designer we created for Dark Selections Website.

 

  • Accessibility. Not everyone uses social media or even the internet for that matter. When promoting your business especially in the rural / horse industries you really need to cover a wide range of media including offline to try and capture your full audience.

 

At the end of the day if your website is not serving you properly, you need to look to see how you can improve your equine business website. Contact us today and we can go over your website obligation free and help you market to the right audience.